The hardest thing...

Since 2008, iRO has been one hell of a ride. One of my most memorable moments: back when god items were ultra rare and a big deal, me and Resshinn stayed up for 2 days straight binge watching LOST and waiting for the seals to roll. We were straight heathens, peeing in cans because we couldn’t leave the computer (this was back in the day of GD wars), but we made that Sleipnir! Jesus...that’s embarrassing, but I’ll leave it in. I think it’s important to know how much I love this game. Probably too much, I guess.

I’ve managed to play for 10 years and I worked my way up from noob to noob (not even kidding), and I’m thankful to have made many lifelong friends (many of them are still here to this day). I found love...and I found heartache (could have done without that). But thankfully, love again that will last.

Do I have any regrets? I’ve made poor leadership calls over the years, but regarding the time that I’ve spent here, leading this guild, I have none. The cancelled plans with friends and flaking out on people just to WoE; hell, I’d do it all again. Even through the dead WoEs again, I love everybody here, and it’s you guys that kept me around.

It’s 2018 now, and I’m about to turn 31 in a little over 2 months. It’s important that as you get older, you continuously re-evaluate what you’re getting out of your investments, and as I get older, I realize more and more that the ROI for me on time invested in RO has dwindled. The relationships are what keep me here; the people that have a passion for this guild that we’ve all created together. And those of you who still have a passion for the game deserve to be led by somebody who shares the same commitment.

Writing this has been emotional for me. I did it over a couple of days (started on Wednesday - the first event WoE). Pred and I have had this planned out for a month or so, but I needed time to see if this is really something that I wanted - if this was the right call for me. Some of you may be thinking that it’s just a game and walking away should be easy, but it’s not. This guild has been such a big part of my life, and going from something that I’ve always done to...just not doing it anymore is scary.

iRO has nothing more to offer me, though. It led me down the path to my career (a software engineer, initiated by a passion for making NPCs for eAthena) and many other things, but I can’t grow anymore here; there’s no challenge, and there’s nothing new. I started as a 1/1 Novice leveling on Porings, and now I’m a 174 Rune Knight still trying to level 1 map south of Prontera; I’ll never get anywhere.

That realization hit me hard over the idle time from event WoEs (thank you, Braska, for helping me through this). Sure, we have econs, but that doesn’t matter to me anymore. I’ve brought myself to the point where I’m done with the game, and it’s time for me to move on.

A lot of you may be wondering what’s going to happen with the guild and all. Anybody that’s willing to step up and lead this thing is more than welcome. Be warned, though - it’s a lot of work. But surrounding yourself with awesome guild members provides an amazing feeling and presents a new challenge to the game - leadership. And hot dog, it makes those wins feel so damn great!

I’ll always be reachable on Discord, Skype, and Facebook. If you feel like chatting, or need to borrow a god item, feel free to message me (MVPs are locked down and will die with my era - GMs don’t return them, so they’d go missing). Nobody gets the cold shoulder - you’ve all helped me build the life that I have and made me who I am. The least that I can do is continue to help you all, so don’t ever feel like you’re bothering me.

I love you all - I always have and I always will. You’ve all been there to help me grow as a person, and I’ll forever be grateful to everybody - not just guild members, but the community as a whole. Even the people we fight against; without you guys, there would have been no passion.